WEEK AFTER APPOINTMENT, ERDMANN LACKS A CONTRACT

The city council voted nine days ago to name Lee C. Erdmann city manager, and his appointment is effective Sunday. Only one problem: Hartford and Erdmann have yet to sign a contract.

The money is hashed out. As approved last week in a city council resolution, he will get $128,000 the first year of the contract and up to $132,500 the second, based on an evaluation.

But council members have been demanding tight language on how Erdmann is to be evaluated, causing the lawyers to go back and forth. The contract could be signed today.

City Manager Albert G. Ilg, meanwhile, is negotiating his own contract to remain as a consultant, along with two aides he brought to city hall as temporary employees: Keith Chapman and Betty Rosania.

Some city officials were understandably distressed to see a front-page New York Times article this week reciting the city's many woes, but none reacted with the vehemence of Gov. John G. Rowland. The governor called the piece a "bag job."

Mayor Eddie A. Perez was milder in his reaction, as were many at city hall. His staff allowed that the article was accurate, but they called it incomplete. "The story was more about the past," said Matt Hennessy, the mayor's chief of staff.

Nancy Mulroy Albert, an aide to the city manager, sent a copy to all employees via e-mail and invited their reaction. "Although the article may paint a bleak picture -- it also, I believe, is quite thought provoking -- which is always good -- and can be a step toward change," Albert wrote.

A number of employees responded in kind, saying it should prompt thoughtful discussion, not complaints about bad press.

The mayor is expected to lose his press secretary, Andrea Comer, in coming weeks. She remains on good terms with Perez, but she has been looking for a change.

In Hartford political circles, where many are sensitive to all things racial, her departure could be a delicate issue. Comer is the only African American on the mayor's five-member staff and has been his unofficial liaison with the city's sizable black community.

Maridory Gonzalez and Omar Vazquez made it official this week, filing a letter withdrawing from a Democratic primary for board of education. Perez sought the withdrawal of the all-Hispanic challenge slate, fearing it might be racially divisive.

"We never intended to divide the party in any particular way, including that of race," they wrote.

Voters will elect four school board members in November. The mayor then will appoint three additional members.

Most everyone predicts that voters in November will approve a new charter making the mayor the city's chief executive officer, but the mayor and his allies are taking no chances.

Perez's supporters have formed a new committee, Reform 2002, to campaign for charter reform. It will be run by Rod Powell, who was treasurer of the mayor's campaign committee, and state Rep. Evelyn Mantilla.

The city council has placed three charter questions on the ballot: a strong mayor government; a board of education composed of mayoral appointees and elected members; and various administrative changes.

A petition drive to place a fourth charter proposal on the ballot failed Monday. It would have asked voters to approve an 11-member council, with six members elected from districts and the rest at large.

City Line is a weekly column of political notes by the Courant's city desk reporters.